Dirty License Plate Grounds for Stop; Lengthy Detention and Search OK
U.S. v. Lyons, --- F.3d ----, 2007 WL 4395442 (10th Cir. Dec. 18, 2007)
Stop of vehicle at night for a dirty and hard to read license plate was valid, because it was a violation of Kansas law to have an obscured plate. Even though cop wiped the dirt off the registration sticker and read it before talking to driver/D, driver was still in violation of law (unlike 10th Cir. precedent where once cop could see, the assumed illegality disappeared). Also, even though license was dirty because of snow and road conditions the day before, that was the day before, and not immediate, making that forgiving 10th Cir precedent inapplicable too.
Cop had suspected drugs in the spare tire on the undercarriage, and that was his reason for hunting for and finding the license plate violation to justify the stop. So, after giving the D back his license and registration and giving him a warning ticket, the cop questioned D further with a number of questions about whether he had drugs in his vehicle, to which D replied “no.” According to the 10th, there was reasonable suspicion for this further detention: D was traveling east on I-70, he had 2 cell phones in the vehicle ( he had a passenger) and drug dealers also have cell phones (!), the spare tire was a different brand and a larger size than the tires on the four wheels, looked suspiciously clean and appeared to be carried lower on the vehicle than normal, and had fingerprints and tool marks on it. The D’s record showed a history of drug offenses. There was a smell of air freshener, and there was a radar detector in the truck.
The cop asked for permission to search “in the back,” and the D said yes. The cop took the tire from the undercarriage, thumped it and listened with a stethoscope, and slashed it open with a knife, finding lots and lots of cocaine.
The stethoscopic inspection of the spare was within the scope of D’s consent. D did nothing to stop this inspection or limit it. Once the thump came back sounding like a druggy thump, the cop, along with everything else he knew (including seeing cans of Fix-A-Flat in the back of the vehicle indicating that the occupants knew that the spare was not usable as a spare) had probable cause to slash and search.
Stop of vehicle at night for a dirty and hard to read license plate was valid, because it was a violation of Kansas law to have an obscured plate. Even though cop wiped the dirt off the registration sticker and read it before talking to driver/D, driver was still in violation of law (unlike 10th Cir. precedent where once cop could see, the assumed illegality disappeared). Also, even though license was dirty because of snow and road conditions the day before, that was the day before, and not immediate, making that forgiving 10th Cir precedent inapplicable too.
Cop had suspected drugs in the spare tire on the undercarriage, and that was his reason for hunting for and finding the license plate violation to justify the stop. So, after giving the D back his license and registration and giving him a warning ticket, the cop questioned D further with a number of questions about whether he had drugs in his vehicle, to which D replied “no.” According to the 10th, there was reasonable suspicion for this further detention: D was traveling east on I-70, he had 2 cell phones in the vehicle ( he had a passenger) and drug dealers also have cell phones (!), the spare tire was a different brand and a larger size than the tires on the four wheels, looked suspiciously clean and appeared to be carried lower on the vehicle than normal, and had fingerprints and tool marks on it. The D’s record showed a history of drug offenses. There was a smell of air freshener, and there was a radar detector in the truck.
The cop asked for permission to search “in the back,” and the D said yes. The cop took the tire from the undercarriage, thumped it and listened with a stethoscope, and slashed it open with a knife, finding lots and lots of cocaine.
The stethoscopic inspection of the spare was within the scope of D’s consent. D did nothing to stop this inspection or limit it. Once the thump came back sounding like a druggy thump, the cop, along with everything else he knew (including seeing cans of Fix-A-Flat in the back of the vehicle indicating that the occupants knew that the spare was not usable as a spare) had probable cause to slash and search.
posted by Anonymous at 3:36 PM
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